Chris Burns' luckless season continued in Rio as the North Walbottle rider was forced out of the Brazilian Grand Prix through a gearbox problem.

The 24-year-old qualified 24th for the latest round of MotoGP in Brazil and had high hopes of finishing his first race of the campaign, having been plagued by bad luck throughout the season.

Burns had the gearbox changed on his Harris WCM four-stroke after Sunday's warm-up but that didn't solve the bike's problems.

"After warm-up there were problems with the gearbox," said Burns. "So the mechanics quickly stripped down the bike and put in a new gearbox.

"Immediately there were problems with that and the mechanics couldn't find neutral on the pit lane when I was ready to head to the grid.

"I missed the start and joined the race two laps into it. The problems continued, the gears would not select properly, it all felt stiff and seemed like the bike would lock up. So I pulled into the pits on the 16th lap.

"It was another disastrous weekend for me but I look forward to Japan and finishing a GP."